


A Disturbing Fantasy

by subspacecommunication (nattherat)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alien Biology, Angst, Gen, Holodecks/Holosuites, Illustrated, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-06
Updated: 2014-09-06
Packaged: 2018-02-16 07:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2261121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nattherat/pseuds/subspacecommunication
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moment the doors slid open and his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the holographic program, Julian regretted everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Disturbing Fantasy

The moment the doors slid open and his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the holographic program, Julian regretted everything. More to the point, he regretted ever listening to Quark. Though in the man's defense, even Quark would likely balk at this.

Julian took a step forward in disbelief, in part to confirm what he could see, and in part to let the doors close behind him to stop anybody else observing. Chains rattled. A warning hiss began to sound, and something was dripping onto the floor.

Quark had told him the data rod had been sold to him by someone who had spent a great deal of time with Cardassians. Said he hadn't had a chance to look at it yet, but surely it would interest Doctor Bashir a great deal, given his natural curiosity. Julian on his part had been every bit as naive as he didn't want to be. When prompted for the name of a Cardassian companion for the program, he'd answered "Garak" without thinking terribly hard - Garak was the only Cardassian he really knew after all - he'd fully expected to be asked to provide the name of some other Cardassian the program actually  _did_  have a holomatrix for.

He hadn't been expecting the computer to give a chirp of confirmation and allow him in.

Julian regretted every action that led up to him being present in that room. The architecture made it very clear that "spent a great deal of time with Cardassians" was a far darker statement than it had sounded when Quark repeated it. The cruel instruments laid out on a few tables, and some hanging from the walls... there was an unpleasant acidic smell tinging the air - simulated as it was. A few Bajoran pistols were among the instruments. He really didn't want to think about that.

The room was a torture chamber. Specifically made to torture Cardassians. Julian felt his stomach turn.

He took a few more steps, struck speechless with the shock of it all, moving towards the bound bundle twisting where it hung from the ceiling. Whatever was dripping increased in frequency, and the hissing became louder. Moving to the side, the light finally highlighted a claw. Scales. An expression filled with rage and contempt.

"... _ **Fuck**_." He almost fell, having to grasp at one of the tables to steady himself. Of course, he'd bloody  _asked_  the computer for this. "God,  _Garak_..."

The holographic projection of his friend hesitated only a moment, before beginning a furious snarl, venom beginning to flow freely from his bound jaw. The dripping sound.

"S-sorry, sorry! Oh God. Computer, e-end progr-"

Garak cut Julian off with a hiss that almost hurt his ears, and the din of the chains and fastenings of his bindings clashing together as he struggled filled the room. Julian clasped a hand over his mouth, utterly unable to overcome the sight before him. It was  _horrible_. 

Garak's body was bent and twisted in uncomfortable ways, secured by harnesses that restricted his every movement. His arms and legs strapped so close to his body, that Julian could tell from the uncoordinated movements of his talons that he had partly lost circulation in his limbs. His tail had been chained to the support in the ceiling, bearing most of his weight and straining, the scales separated so far that Julian can actually  _see_  the unprotected skin beneath them. His head was pulled back at an awkward angle, bound in place, permanently exposing his neck to his would-be torturer and preventing most of his venom from actually escaping his mouth. Now he was looking, he could see that between livid snarling, Garak was forced to frequently swallow the build-up of saliva and venom in his mouth or risk choking. The apparatus didn't just render a Cardassian's means of self-defense harmless Julian realised.  _It humiliated them_.

He stepped forward again, automatically, without thinking. Only feeling an instinctive need to free his friend from such an abhorrent device.

"...I'm just going to..."

The moment he placed his hand on the bindings, Garak fell almost completely silent, only the quieter hissing of laboured breaths coming from him as he swallowed frequently to stem the flow of venom. There was fear in his eyes, and his expression wasn't guarded at all. _But of course it isn't, this is a hologram_ , Julian reminded himself. Then it struck him.

That Garak was even here at all meant he was deliberately programmed in. That whoever it was who had spent that "great deal of time with Cardassians" knew Garak. Knew Garak enough to program his appearance. Knew Garak enough to program this... whatever it was. Revenge fantasy?

This time Julian clutched his stomach, bracing himself for how much fear and disgust he felt all at once. He wasn't even sure who or what his feelings were aimed at, just that everything in that room was wrong. He took one last look at the holographic Garak who was now staring at him warily, rasping with the effort of keeping his throat clear, and patted his shoulder as though it made a difference to his suffering.

"End program."

The room, and Garak, shimmered away out of existence. The moment Julian's legs worked again, he strode over to the console and yanked out the data rod, purging the memory banks of the program.

He stood there for a long moment going over his options in his mind. Something needed to be done. He could take it to Garak, which seemed only fair given what Julian had seen, but there was the admittedly strong possibility that once he gave it to Garak, it would disappear never to be spoken of again. No... given how disturbing the program was, and the Cardassian and Bajoran instruments he had seen, there was only one course of action he could take.

Julian gave something of a shaky sigh, pulling himself back together and gripping the data rod tightly in his hand as he tapped his commbadge.

"Doctor Bashir to Commander Sisko? I er, need to speak with you sir."

**Author's Note:**

> Um, thank you for reading! This was originally supposed to be a tiny ficlet prompt for my ficlet series, but kind of grew as I was writing so I decided to post it on its own. It kind of reads like a chapter 1 of something I think, but I didn't plan any further because it was only meant to be a small thing. As with my DS9 ficlets though, if you want to use this fic as a prompt/springboard into a fuller idea, please by all means go right ahead!


End file.
